Source: File: A
battery of French Rimailho 155mm howitzers near Massiges, 26 September 1915.
jpeg, [online] Available at:
<http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205322841> Accessed: 1 October 2015].
A premonition came from
One 1909 publication, as to how
Future warfare would change;
That all hand to hand fighting
Out on the battlefield, should be
Confined to stories of history.
Predictions made redundancy
Of steel weaponry - this included
Banishment of bayonets.
Such decisive thoughts
Had emerged from high Levels
Of well established thinkers.
Proof showed poor prophecy,
In trying to form military evolution
-
Freed from blinkered strategists,
Each war in history always
Open up new tactics, but dangers
Lay in opinionated sights.
The fact of a long drawn war,
That would include many countries,
Was unforeseen months before.
Fighting realities make for
All surprises - as in rolls of barbed
Wired barriers and trenches.
Who could have foretold
Barricades forming a fortified chain
From the Alps to the sea?
Impossibilities became possible
With trenches and barbed wire walls;
To be repaired Indefinitely.
Shellfire resistant obstacles
Had to be broken by other methods -
Most likely by land troops.
Therefore hand bombs use
And reliable bayonets, might down
Rifles and machine guns.
A debate over who might
Face the most difficulties then lay
Between British and French -
Every regiment launched
Against enemy knew full well how
Many would soon lay cold.
Neither county had priority
Over sacrifices - with French army
Seen as being most strategic.
The French proximity lay
Closest to the German lines, about
The area of Champagne.
Champagne; French lands
That has seen many disputes date
Back over centuries -
Old campaigns witnessed
Other fights for victory over same
Fifty miles - once again.
Faced by enemy systems,
In unique espionage techniques,
To threaten French tactics -
Despite greater numbers
Of French forces, they still greatly
Depended on British forces.
Half the battle was to build
Soldiers confidence; that all good
Talk makes for sure success.
Champagne campaign hopes,
Openly formed in the written lines
For this French victory.
French strategy was seen
For an Artois offensive to hold
Captive German reserves -
Against any predictions
Of a book, written by theorists;
Steel bayonets came alive.
A 'holding attack' method,
While unrewarding can alarm
An enemy, to bring victory -
Inventing familiar names
Loos and Vimy, enabled French
In virtual Lens domination.
Off paper true tactics lay
In the minds of leaders - for one
Who dares, makes a move -
Time, poised in the midst
Of battle formed Joffre's tactics -
Ready to make history.
Between Rheims and Lens
Localised fights sent shadows
Across Champagne lands.
Two storm centres poised -
Outcomes unknown - perhaps
Ready for a defining blow.
Despite fortified barbed
Wire, ditches and machine guns,
French artillery intentions
Might see them ineffective
New predictions of modern war
Might see ten days history.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. The French Battles - Artois and
Champagne - Fighting Corps A Corps. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 October. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11896835/Daily-Telegraph-October-1-1915.html
[Accessed: 1 October 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 1 October 2015).
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#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Champagne
